by Garth Meyer
Leo Pustilnikov, lead owner of the closed AES power plant in Redondo Beach, spoke to the Beverly Hills Courier newspaper Sept. 8 and was asked about the situation here.
The 51-acre plant site remains stagnant as ligation plays out, related to the ownership group’s 2023 bankruptcy filing, and its challenge to the Redondo Beach state-mandated housing plan, known as a Housing Element.
Pustilnikov contends that it was filed too late by the city to be in effect.
Without a state-certified Housing Element, he could use “Builder’s Remedy” to move ahead on desired development of the AES site, despite any city objections.
Many Redondo Beach representatives have spoken in favor of turning the site, or the vast majority of it, into a park.
Redondo Beach is currently in the midst of six separate lawsuits filed by Pusilnikov’s ownership group(s).
Below is an excerpt of the Sept. 8 interview, regarding Redondo Beach and housing.
“At the end of the day, I like real estate and residential real estate because everyone needs to be housed,” Pustilnikov said. “I’m a firm believer that housing is as close to the universal right as we have, and that people shouldn’t be left to suffer on the streets.”
Pustilnikov, who is not yet 40, notes that his background as an immigrant from Odessa (he came here as a young child) has also shaped him.
“You have to realize, even though I was born in what was then the USSR, what is now Ukraine, my nationality when I lived there was neither Russian nor Ukrainian. It was Jewish. So even there I was separated, and even there we were discriminated against. We were a minority. So here you have the same issues where people that have try to say, ‘You know what? You can’t do this here because this is ours and not yours.’ I grew up with that, and now I have an opportunity to fight it. And my philosophy is, if I’m not going to do it, I don’t know how many others will.”
Easy Reader asked City Attorney Joy Ford for a comment on the interview or the lawsuits.
“I am not able to comment on a pending case that is discussed during privileged conversations with the mayor and city council in closed session,” Ford said.
I am a complete outsider to this issue. However, based on my observations over the years, it appears that Mr. Pustilnikov is urging the Bankruptcy Trustee to recognize that a legal battle with the City of Redondo over the builder’s remedy is central to any bankruptcy discharge. In effect, he has placed Redondo in a position where it must either allow multi-unit development or buy him out. Either path could take years to resolve in court. The public will only grasp the full scope of this story if a news reporter connects all the pieces. The citizens of Redondo Beach deserve a clear answer on the status of this situation, especially after fighting so hard to see those smokestacks finally come down.
I live a short distance from this old power plant. The city is grateful that it was finally decommissioned, but alas, the smokestacks will likely stay up until this building issue is resolved in the courts. The density Pustilnikov is requesting (should he be found to actually have a say in the matter) is a non-starter not only for most residence of Redondo Beach, but neighboring Hermosa Beach as well. The traffic congestion would be a daily nightmare.
Another topic that is rarely mentioned is that there are some very old settling ponds on that property. It could be a Superfund clean-up for all we know.
The simple truth is that Pustilnikov is Bankrupt. He has no money or real assets and his group of investors are bottom feeders, with little money. His BK filing is a delaying tactic to try to get relieve from Mortgage defaults. It will fail. The lenders will get the property in the end and hopefully the city can buy from them, via way of a Bond Issuance. A clear case of a man with “champagne tastes and lemonade money.” A park for all the people and a museum or exhibition hall for the old plant would be best.